Community Conservation, Inequality and Injustice: Myths of Power in Protected Area Management

Abstract

"The principle of local support states that protected areas cannot survive without the support of their neighbours. It is the dominant motif of much writing about community conservation and the integration of conservation with development. However, we should be skeptical of it for several reasons. First, it implies that the weak can defeat the agendas of the strong. Second, the principle ignores that fact that inequality and injustice tend to be perpetrated about he globe. It is not existence of poverty or injustice that will cause problems for conservation, but their distribution within society. Third, a detailed case study from the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania shows how conservation can flourish despite local opposition. Advocates of community conservation need to pay more attention to fortress conservation's strength's and especially its powerful myths and representations. Understanding how inequality and conservation are successfully perpetuated will make it easier to understand the politics of more participatory community conservation projects."